Giuliano Besson

Active in the 1970s as a downhill skier, Giuliano Besson was the Italian champion in 1972 when he took part in the Sapporo Winter Olympics, which doubled as that year´s World Championships. It was Besson´s only Olympic appearance, and he shared 11th place with his compatriot Stefano Anzi in the downhill. In the World Cup, Besson obtained his first significant result on 15 March 1972 in Val Gardena downhill. He won the fastest race in the world, the Kandahar of the Andes, in 1973. Besson achieved a World Cup podium in 1974, when he was second in the downhill race on the Streif in Kitzbühel, once again tied with Anzi and behind the winner, Switzerland´s Roland Collombin. At that year´s World Championships at Sankt Moritz, Besson achieved an impressive fifth place.

Having won the Italian downhill title again in 1974 and finishing 9th in the downhill in his last international placing on the Lauberhorn in January 1975, Besson retired. Besson´s retirement came after the Italian Winter Sports Federation expelled him and Anzi after they had become representatives of Valanga Azzurra (as elected by fellow athletes) in 1974. Their role was to defend athlete´s rights. Despite being at the peak of their skiing careers, expulsion for Besson´s meant his career ended at just 25 years of age. After retiring, Besson started a sportswear manufacturing company with Anzi in 1976 and called it AnziBesson. In November 2024, journalist Augusto Grandi published Besson’s biography in a book entitled “Giuliano Besson: il ragazzo terribile della Valanga Azzurra”. (Giuliano Besson: The Terrible Boy of the Blue Avalanche.)